Up and Walking!

Allison was so brave today! She decided that she was ready to start bearing some weight. Once she realized that it didn't hurt she wanted to walk. Balancing is still difficult (tiny feet), so I still help her or she holds on to the furniture. I'm so proud of her!

More good news: Allison's casts will be taken off on January 28 instead of mid-February. You don't want to get me started on the insurance reasons why we get this visit to Primary Children's instead of having to wait for Dr. Stevens at Shriners.

I'll post a picture as soon as I sit down and figure out the new camera we got for Christmas!

Doing Much Better

My little girl is back--for the most part.

We all went to church today, and I think Allison enjoyed that everyone fussed over her condition. She went to most of Primary and joined me in Relief Society too. She's off all the hard stuff, only taking ibuprofen when needed. It's helped a lot.

We're going to work on taking baby steps this week.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Day 2 Post Op

Allison's had a hard couple of days. We were discharged from Shriners about 30 minutes after the storm hit Salt Lake Thursday evening. That plus driving in 5:00 traffic made our trip home from The Avenues take a little over 2 hours.

She was up several times last night. I say several because after 3 times up in one night everything becomes a blur anyway. Thank heaven that Logan was only up once. She's unhappy. She wants her "cast-es" off and she is very angry at her doctors. She told me last night that she "wants to kick theys butts!" I think that's the Valium talking.

So I've discontinued her Valium (prescriped for the muscle spasms) and I think she's feeling more herself. I hope she and I get lots of rest tonight.

I forgot to mention on my last post how amazing everyone at Shriners was to us. Allison needed a new bag to bring home all the goodies she got! Not even Christmas yet and she has a new teddy bear, a Barbie, coloring stuff, a blanket and a Disney Princess Build-A-Bear. I have been so touched by their generosity and kindness.

I'm so grateful for my wonderful neighbors and friends who have brought and sent food and presents for Allison. It's definitely helped keep her occupied until she can get up and around again. We really appreciate everyone's love and concern.

Day 1 Post Op

Allison is lying next to me in her hospital bed trying to get some more rest. Her roommate just went down for surgery so we've got the room to ourselves for a bit.

The surgery went great, just as planned. She'll be in walking casts for 6-7 weeks (until early February).

She had a great appetite yesterday evening and ate almost everything she could see: crackers, cereal, vanilla ice cream, more crackers, chocolate ice cream (I had to help her finish it, though). The night was kind of tough between Q1 hour vitals and very involved trips to the potty.

Allison has to pass off a few things before they'll let her go home today. She must wiggle her toes, be able to take her medicine orally, and work with with physical therapy some. I'm hoping we'll be able to leave, but we won't know until later this afternoon. I'm sure missing my baby!

Thanks for everyone's prayers and concern. Hopefully we'll be home soon.

What are Club Feet?

Many of you know that Allison will be having surgery on Wednesday 12/19/07 at Shriner's Hospital to further correct her club feet. I plan to keep everyone updated regarding her post-op progress through our blog and wanted to share a little of Allison's feet history.

The first picture was taken when Allison was only 2 days old, before her first set of casts were placed. The next picture is where her feet are now. What a miracle!! On Wednesday Dr. Stevens will be lengthening tendons and ligaments to increase the range of motion on Allison's feet (how's that for layman's terms?). Here's a website with detailed club feet information if you're interested:

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/clubfoot-topic-overview

Allison's spirits are good. She's looking forward to having the nurses wait on her and have Mom all to herself for one night in the hospital. The "lemon" of wearing two walking casts for one month afterward will be "lemonade" when we get her a wheelchair at Disneyland next month and skip to the front of the lines! She did cry when I told her that she will miss her Polar Express Pajama Party at school on Thursday.

She's a strong, smart, resilient girl. At five and a half years old, she wears a shoe size 7 (about what two-year-olds wear) and manages to keep up physically with all the other kids her age. I'm so proud of her and feel blessed that my Heavenly Father has entrusted her to us.

Red Bull Christmas Party

Ed's company went above and beyond again this year for the Christmas Party. Held at the Grand America hotel, the evening started off with drinks and appetizers (that's Diet Coke and Sprite for us) followed by a fantastic dinner. I'm quite easy to please and consider any meal fantastic if I don't have to cook it. We barely had time to finish eating before Santa Claus himself visited and brought presents! Santa puts a lot of effort into bringing very individualized gifts for each child and then calls them by name to sit on his lap. This party is definitely one of the highlights of our Christmas season. Thanks!